On a typical golf course, there will be several different teeing grounds for each hole, e.g., the forward or "ladies" teeing ground, the standard "mens" teeing ground, and the "championship" teeing ground. These areas are typically marked with different colored tee markers, e.g., red for the ladies, white and/or blue for the men, and gold for the championship tees. For each of these teeing grounds, there is a stated distance, usually measured from the center of the teeing ground to the center of the putting green. This is the distance that is posted on the score card and on the yardage/par sign present at each hole. However, due to wear patterns in the teeing grounds, golf course superintendents constantly move the actual tee markers either forward or back at each teeing ground. The distance that the tee markers is moved can often be significant. Thus, many golfers will want to know the exact distance to the hole, or to some trouble area on the course, e.g., sand traps, water hazards, etc., and these golfers will attempt to calculate the actual distance for each hole. This procedure can take time, particularly if the course is one that the golfer has not played before. This procedure thus results in added time spent on each teeing ground (particularly at par 3 holes), which over a short time adds up and causes the round of golf to be longer than necessary.
It is interesting to note that while many connected with the game of golf recognize that slow play is a major problem, the fact that distances are not accurately provided on signs and score cards, thus requiring valuable time to be wasted in attempting to determine these distances, has not been recognized as part of the problem of slow play. Rather, the movement of tee markers due to the wearing of the teeing ground turf, and the consequent requirement of golfers having to determine these distances has been simply accepted through custom over the years by many in the golfing community.
The present invention addresses and diminishes this problem by providing the golf superintendent with an adjustable distance tee marker. Using the tee marker of the present invention, the actual distance from the center of the putting green to any spot on the teeing ground can be instantly conveyed to the players. The superintendent (or ranger, etc.) simply adjusts the distance numbers present in the tee marker and places the adjusted marker (or a pair thereof) in the ground at each teeing ground. Golfers seeing the actual yardage reflected on the tee markers will not waste their time trying to calculate the yardage themselves. By use of the adjustable distance tee marker (ADTM) of the present invention, the time spent on a round of golf can be reduced.
Prior to this invention, the present inventors were not aware of any commercial embodiments of tee markers which accurately reflected the distance from the teeing ground to the center of the putting green. A search of the USPTO records yielded only two references:
(1) U.S. Pat. No. 3,478,452, entitled "Visual Aid for Golf"; and PA1 (2) U.S. Pat. No. 1,832,947, entitled "Golf Marker". PA1 a. an openable hollow housing having a top portion and a bottom portion; PA1 b. three movable numbered drums, each bearing the numbers 0-9 in a spaced apart relationship on the face of the drum, wherein said drums are situated in the interior of said housing, and wherein said drums interact with one (or both) of the top and bottom interior shapes of said housing to fix the positions of said drums in said housing; PA1 c. a window void in said housing which provides a means of viewing one number on each of the three drums in said housing, the parallel combination of such numbers representing the yardage distance from the tee marker to the center of the putting green to be played; and PA1 d. a spike emanating from the bottom of said housing for attaching said housing to the teeing ground turf.
The main purpose of U.S. Pat. No. 1,832,947 is to provide information to the golfer concerning the location of the cup on the putting green. It also provides a freely rotatable distance marker means used to indicate the variable distance from the teeing ground to the cup on the putting green. The distance provided on this marker, therefore, is specifically different than the official distance desired by golf course committees (from the teeing ground to the center of the putting green) and provided by the ADTM of the present invention.
U.S. Pat. No. 1,832,947 also has nine (9) elements and twenty-four (24) parts (for example, its four anchoring stakes would represent one element and four parts), and is too complicated to be manufactured in the required numbers to be a commercial success. As discussed above, the average golf course employs three classes of tees which would require a total of 108 tee-markers. The cost of manufacturing these tee-markers would have been prohibitive and is probably why they are not in use in the game of golf today.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,478,452 is directed to a single tamper proof sign, to be used (as a single unit) at each hole on the golf course, and which includes rotatable distance indicators used to show the distances for each teeing ground (e.g., championship, mens, ladies), which are changed by use of a magnetic key. Only one sign is employed for each hole, and the three common tee distances are all reflected in the magnetically rotatable numbers provided in the sign. This single device is not useful as a tee marker, but is instead used as a variable distance sign for each individual hole. It is not a tee marker, because it is not used to define the teeing ground. Users of this device still must use conventional tee markers to define the teeing ground for championship play, regular mens play and ladies play. When any of the actual tee markers are moved, the sign yardage must be adjusted accordingly by use of a special magnetic key.
The Adjustable Distance Tee Marker (ADTM) of the present invention would enable the actual tee markers to show the actual distance from the teeing ground to the center of the putting green, thereby enabling golf course committees (and/or other course officials) to more "accurately define" the course, as required by Rule 33-2of the Rules of Golf. Golf Course Committees obviously wish to provide golfers with these distances and they traditionally do so by recording the distances on signs at each hole and also on scorecards. But, as explained above, by virtue of the continuous movement of traditional tee markers, these distances are not "accurately defined," as intended in the Rules of Golf. The ADTM of the present invention has been approved for use by the United States Golf Association as a device which "accurately defines" the official distance of the hole.
The ADTM of the present invention would also address a major problem in playing golf, slow play. Its use would eliminate the necessity of golfers having to take the time to (1) locate the single fixed official distance marker for each hole (which can be difficult to find), (2) pace off the distance to the new position of the tee markers, (3) do the mental calculation to determine the new distance and (4) usually discuss and confirm this distance with other golfers in the group. Other golfers in the group may also take time to verify this distance calculation. The use of the ADTM of the present invention should eliminate time taken by golfers who would otherwise wish to personally determine the accurate distance from the teeing ground to the center of the putting green.
The ADTM of the present invention would also add to the enjoyment of the game by removing the uncertainty of the distances in golfers minds thereby improving some golfers ability to play the game. For example, some "average" golfers do not know that the distances recorded on score cards and signs at the tees are not true representations of the distances from the tee markers to the centers of putting greens. Readily available knowledge of the exact distances from the tee markers to the centers of putting greens, in the form of the ADTM of the present invention, should improve each players ability, provide more time for playing golf rather than using it to perform what should be recognized as an unnecessary distance measuring task, and consequently add to a golfers' enjoyment of the game.